{"id":1479,"date":"2026-09-18T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2026-09-13T20:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T01:21:28","slug":"ashes-of-yavin-aftershock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/?p=1479","title":{"rendered":"Ashes of Yavin – Aftershock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They returned to the Independence<\/em>, ten battered X-wings sporting damage ranging from carbon scoring to broken s-foils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge led the Rogues into the Auxiliary Two hangar, Samoc tucked in beside him with the remaining X-wings and a sole TIE Interceptor strung out behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damage control teams lined the edge of the hangar, equipped with firefighting equipment and medical supplies. Close to the corridor leading into Rogue Territory, General Rieekan stood waiting with two aides. Ringing him were eight Alliance personnel in light combat armor, armed with A280 blaster rifles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. Defector. Not planned the way Celchu was<\/em>, Wedge thought. A wave of exhaustion crashed over him as his X-wing settled onto the deck. “Acey, start the post-flight,” he said. “I’ll be back to run over the list when we’re secure.” He glanced over and saw Samoc’s X-wing settle in place while Tycho and Puck came through the magcon field, followed by a single TIE Interceptor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the deck crew had gotten a ladder over to his X-wing by the time he popped the canopy and doffed his helmet. Ignoring the weariness dragging at his arms and legs, he descended the ladder to the deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Interceptor settled to the deck, incongruous among the Rebel fighters. Wedge started walking over even as the Rebel security team approached, blasters raised. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see Doc and Janson come through the aperture next, Janson’s X-wing missing two laser cannons and a half-meter of mangled s-foil on its starboard side, while Eirriss’s fighter was only flying on three engines. We’re not pretending this was a clean victory<\/em>, he thought grimly, pausing to watch Zev and Karie’s fighters slide into the hangar next. Zev’s X-wing looked wrong with its decapitated astromech; Karie’s snubfighter looked surprisingly intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He turned back to the Interceptor in time to see the topside hatch open. Empty hands appeared first before the pilot stood. “I’m unarmed,” a female voice called. “But I need to use my hands to pull myself out.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Slowly,” one of the security officers said sharply. “Move slowly or we will<\/em> shoot you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke and Mara’s X-wings entered the hangar last, moving smoothly toward the painted slips closest the magcon field. Wedge turned his attention toward them for a moment. If we need to scramble again,<\/em> he thought grimly as he ran the roster against declared damage, we could maybe get six fighters back into space. <\/em>He almost turned back to the Interceptor pilot, but unexpected movement caught his eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mara’s X-wing had barely settled on its struts, its engines still spooling down, when she popped the canopy. Before any ground crew could reach her fighter, she flung herself out of the cockpit and ran<\/em> across the hangar and vanished into a corridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without post-flight.<\/em> Unease gnawed at his stomach. And she was silent all the way back. And Luke didn’t say anything to her.<\/em> He blew out a breath. One thing at a time. Defector first. Then check on the Rogues.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TIE Interceptor pilot was now sitting on top of the cockpit with her helmet off. Her hair was short-cropped, black as vacuum, and sweat-matted. She had her hands up again, her flight gloves discarded. “Do you want me to slide down or wait?” she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Slide down,” one of the security officers said. “Slowly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Slowly,” she said, nudging herself forward until gravity started pulling her down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge crossed the rest of the distance to the security team. Rieekan raised an eyebrow at him but kept his attention focused on the Imperial pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the security officers frisked her briefly, then marched her over to Rieekan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m Captain Kasan Moor, commander of the Imperial One-Twenty-Eighth Fighter Group,” she said flatly. “Formerly commander. I’m requesting asylum with the Rebel Alliance.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“General Carlist Rieekan. I’m aware of who you are,” Rieekan said. “Though we’re going to have a lot of questions for you before we adjudicate your asylum request.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I expect so, sir.” Her voice carried the same exhaustion Wedge felt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rieekan nodded to the security team. “Get her secured and cleaned up. We’ll start interviews in an hour.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the security team and their prisoner had vanished into the Independence<\/em>, Rieekan turned to Wedge. “Your squadron keeps collecting defectors,” he said dryly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You sent us for the first two. This one definitely wasn’t part of the mission briefing,” Wedge said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The initial report from the surface said you fought her?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge nodded. “She’s damned good. If she hadn’t decided to break out of the fight and vape her own wingmen, I don’t know who would have won.” He hesitated. “Any word from search and rescue?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Yes, your two downed pilots. Both recovered and being brought back to the Independence<\/em>. The report I saw before coming down here indicated they were both injured, but I don’t know how badly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge let out a breath, and tightness in his chest eased. “Thank you, sir.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rieekan looked around at the hangar for the first time. “Your squadron took quite a beating,” he commented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The One-Twenty-Eighth was good<\/em>, General. Very good.” Wedge hesitated. “It almost went much worse.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I look forward to reading your report, Captain.” Rieekan nodded at the hangar. “You better go patch up your people. And tell Skywalker I want to talk to him once I’ve had time to question our new defector.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Wedge found Luke half an hour later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working through the post-flight checklist for Mara’s X-wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke was so engrossed with what he was doing that Wedge made it all the way to the foot of the ladder leading to the cockpit before the other man looked up. “Wedge!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge offered a cautious nod in return. “They just took Kit and Hobbie to medical. Hobbie getting dunked in the bacta tank. Kit’s got lacerations on his hands and face from his displays blowing out.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“On his hands<\/em>?<\/em>” Luke asked incredulously. “Through the flight gloves?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge nodded. “Through the flight gloves. Flak vest took the worst of it, so he didn’t end up with transparisteel embedded in his chest. I’d guess he’ll be out a few days for recovery. Bacta wraps on his hands should take care of it pretty quick.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“How bad is Hobbie if he’s getting dunked?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Three broken ribs and a broken ankle. He’ll be out at least a few weeks until he’s healed up enough to fly, even with bacta.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke shook his head. “That mission was very close to disaster. Not knowing about the One-Twenty-Eighth almost killed us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge pursed his lips. “About that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m guessing Rieekan wants to talk to us about the defector,” Luke continued. “You went up against her. How good is she?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Very good,” Wedge admitted. “Very<\/em> good. Samoc and I were locked in a fight with her and her wingmen. It was a very close thing. If I’d have made a mistake, I’m pretty sure she would have vaped me. And if she’d made a mistake, I would’ve had her. Instead…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Instead she broke off the spiral with you and vaped her own wingmen,” Luke finished. “I wonder if Intelligence knew she was trying to defect.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you trying to avoid the question I’m trying to ask?<\/em> Wedge wondered. “Unlikely. Celchu got away by going on shore leave. Madine got arrested trying to jump the fence. If Moor was on Intelligence’s radar, I think we would’ve known the One-Twenty-Eighth was on Gerrard Five.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Maybe, but the comm blackouts have hurt information exchange. Rieekan said he didn’t know Gerrard Five was in open revolt until Madine told him. I know it’s keeping the Empire from finding us, but we’re operating blind.” Luke hesitated. “How are the rest of the Rogues?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I sent all of them to the medbay for a post-flight exam,” Wedge said. “A couple of them were pretty banged up, and I’m sure Zev and Tycho were both suffering from smoke inhalation.” He paused. “All the Rogues I could find, I mean.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke didn’t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What happened down there?” Wedge asked. “And don’t tell me you have no idea what I’m talking about, because you’re sitting here doing post-flight on Mara’s X-wing. The same woman who Rieekan thought was going to murder a ground crew over the screwup with the T-47s.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m…not sure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Then give me your best guess, Luke.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hesitation stretched several seconds. “It’s going to sound crazy.” Luke’s astromech whistled a confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge climbed the ladder up to the cockpit and leaned in close enough he could drop his voice so no one else could hear. “Is this some Jedi thing?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke grimaced. “Maybe. I’m not sure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Okay, so start with the not-Jedi part of it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“She wasn’t responding right on comms,” Luke said. “I’d ask her for her status, and she didn’t sound right. When we were on our initial approach to the city, she didn’t lock her s-foils open.” He shrugged, looking down at the checklist again and continuing to work through it. “Our first pass, she missed two shots. On a stationary target that hadn’t started to fire back.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Exhaustion,” Wedge supplied. “The whole squadron was tired after Corellia and didn’t get enough recovery time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Not exhaustion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Then what?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I could tell something was wrong. So I ordered Cesi and Wes to take over the defense suppression I was supposed to do with Mara, and we took over their role covering one of the Y-wing sections.” He chewed on his lip. “Then she stopped responding. Completely.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But she was still flying,” Wedge said. “It’s not like she crashed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think she was flying on reflex. She was holding position on my wing, but she stopped responding on comms. And she was correcting slowly, not at all like Mara. No thought, just reflex.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But then you and she started tearing into the Interceptors,” Wedge protested. “I saw you do it. The distraction almost got me killed while I was fighting Moor.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That was after<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“After what?<\/em>” Wedge’s heart began to sink. This is the part of the story I’m going to hate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I reached.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You…reached.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With the Force. We had six Interceptors dropping on us and the Y-wings, and it was the only thing I could think of to snap her out of it. Because they were going to kill her, or the Y-wings, or both. There were too many for me to take by myself.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You reached with the Force<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke nodded slowly. “And I found her. She was drowning.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, kriff me. I need a Jedi just to translate<\/em>, Wedge thought ruefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I grabbed her and tried to pull her out. Both of her.” He hesitated. “I don’t know how to make that make sense. Sorry. But when I grabbed her, it was like grabbing a live chilling bar.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge stared. “A what?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A chilling bar. On a vaporator.” Luke looked at Wedge for a moment, and his cheeks reddened in embarrassment. “Sorry. Bad analogy for you. Think about grabbing the dynoric line that feeds an X-wing’s laser cannon when the insulation is cracked.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge shuddered. “I’ve never done it, but I saw Hobbie do it once, when we were first training on T-65s on Yavin. His hand clamped down on it and he couldn’t let go until his astromech cut power a few seconds later.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Exactly.” Luke shuddered. “I couldn’t let go of her. And I think she was holding on to me, too. It got confusing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Confusing is one word for all of this.” Wedge shook his head. “If I hadn’t seen you two down in atmosphere a few hours ago, I’d be dragging you to an Emdee droid with a psych module.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We were in each other’s heads<\/em>, Wedge,” Luke said, voice vehement. “I saw things. Memories. She was a kid here on Gerrard Five.” He pursed his lips. “Something dragged her under. Memories. The Force. Something. And I dragged her back, and then we were in each other’s heads.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And then you started ripping apart those TIE Interceptors.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Yes. I…” he hesitated again. “I knew exactly where she was. What she was going to do. She could tell the same for me. I think.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Wedge’s turn to hesitate. “I saw what you two did. I couldn’t tell which of you had lead and which was wing, because you were switching so fast. Could you do it again?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No<\/em>.” Luke’s answer was immediate. “We’re not doing that again. Wedge, we were in each other’s heads<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s why you didn’t ask her to check in after the One-Twenty-Eighth disengaged. You didn’t need to.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke nodded silently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A thought occurred to Wedge. “Back up. You said you couldn’t let go. Are you still…?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No. When we were climbing up toward orbit, the grip started to loosen. And when we landed, Mara completely cut it off. Gone. I’m not sure where she is.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I hope you realize this sounds completely insane.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was worse being inside<\/em> it.” Luke shuddered. “I don’t know how to describe it without sounding even crazier than I already do, Wedge.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What about Mara?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Artoo said she’s in her quarters. The door’s locked and there’s no power to the lights. Her comlink is shut off, too.” He pursed his lips. “After what I felt down there? It seems reasonable.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“She should get checked out by medical,” Wedge said quietly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Probably. But I doubt an Emdee is going to be able to help with this. And I don’t want her flight certification pulled.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Is she safe to fly? Are you<\/em> safe to fly?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If we need to scramble again tonight? Probably not. In a day or two? Maybe. I’ll tell you then.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedge rubbed his face. Force shavit. I hate this.<\/em> “Get some sleep, Luke. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke nodded; his own weariness looked bone-deep. “As soon as I’m done with the checklist. Then I’ll hit my quarters.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Luke did not return to his quarters after finishing Mara’s post-flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artoo had insisted he eat something first. Luke visited the mess in Pilot Country just long enough to grab a bowl of stew and gulp it down without tasting it. His stomach rebelled at the intrusion; he ignored it, telling himself he needed the energy. Afterward, he made the rounds to check on his pilots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kit had been released from the medbay quickly, both hands wrapped in bacta-infused bandages to accelerate healing. The lower half of his face had been shaved and cleaned, with topical ointment applied to prevent infection. The young man was rattled by his ejection, and Luke made a note to himself to keep a close eye on the rookie over the next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hobbie, on the other hand, was still suspended in a bacta tank. Luke had no way to talk to the man, but he looked vaguely annoyed at his surroundings, which Luke took as his natural state. Puck dozed nearby in a chair; Luke decided not to wake him. Still keeping an eye on his wingman.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He found Samoc, Cesi, and Wes drinking something that smelled vaguely alcoholic while playing cards in the Rogues’ common area. All three looked exhausted but in relatively good spirits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zev had already gone to bed by the time Luke went looking for him. The older man had been given an aerosol treatment to help with smoke inhalation and told to rest. He’ll probably be fine. Check in the morning, though.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke had to expand his search to find Karie and Tycho. Karie was lifting weights in the Rogues’ makeshift gym, Tycho acting as her spotter. Luke made small talk with them for a few minutes, just enough to get a feel for their state. Karie’s still dealing with the adrenaline crash from that fight, even though she did great keeping Zev alive. And Tycho is numb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He hated that he couldn’t seem to reach the Alderaanian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unwilling to sleep but with all his justifiable work completed, Luke returned to Rogue Territory. He hesitated outside Mara’s door for a long moment, tempted to either knock or try to reach out to her in the Force. No<\/em>, he firmly told himself. No. The last thing she wants after that disaster is me intruding.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His quarters felt claustrophobically quiet. Luke was tempted, for a moment, to take his lightsaber and a training remote and find an empty room to practice. Then again, after what happened today, the last thing I want to do is touch the Force.<\/em> He shuddered. Maybe I shouldn’t be using it at all until I’ve found a teacher. I feel like I’m a kid who got handed a blaster and told not to point it at anything valuable.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analogy almost immediately surfaced the impression of a five-year-old Mara Jade. He grimaced and pushed it back down. Sleep. Try to sleep.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His bunk was too soft, too hard, too cold, too hot. Luke tried sleeping with a light blanket. Without a blanket. Without a sleep shirt. But his mind wouldn’t settle, and rest was elusive; stillness dredged up memories that weren’t his. Memories he didn’t understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paperwork<\/em>, he decided after his chrono showed 0128. Paperwork. And try not to think about the One-Twenty-Eighth. Thanks, chrono.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rogue Territory had long gone quiet, but Luke didn’t leave his quarters. Instead, he flipped on his datapad, seated himself at his desk, and began to work through his backlog of paperwork. Anything so I don’t think about Gerrard Five. About what happened. About what I saw. About what I did.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paperwork. Requisition forms for replacement X-wings for Hobbie and Kit; the second form took half the time of the first. Luke suspected it was unnecessary and Rieekan was already pulling strings, but there was no sense taking chances. Build good habits<\/em>, he told himself. And learn to do all of these forms yourself instead of always making Wedge do them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the requisitions were completed, he started working on his after-action report. Focus on what’s understandable<\/em>, he decided. The big picture. How we executed the operation. Successes, failures, corrections we need to make.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke was still wrestling with the report when a knock sounded from his door. He glanced at his chrono. 0217. Who else is up at this hour?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He rose, shut his datapad off, and crossed the small room to the door. Without hesitation or thought about his appearance, he triggered the release and allowed it to slide open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mara Jade stood in the hallway. She still wore her flightsuit from the engagement, though it was unzipped to her navel. She was barefoot; her flak vest and boots were missing. Her red-gold hair was disheveled, matted with dried sweat, completely unkempt. She chewed a ration bar mechanically, and her posture drooped with unmasked exhaustion. Her voice was entirely flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hi. You broke your promise.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They returned to the Independence, ten battered X-wings sporting damage ranging from carbon scoring to broken s-foils. Wedge led the Rogues into the Auxiliary Two hangar, Samoc tucked in beside him with the remaining X-wings and a sole TIE Interceptor strung … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ashes-of-yavin"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p52rlt-nR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1480,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingunderduress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}